It was an unplugged evening, Blake Berglund strummed his guitar in true hip cowboy fashion and Lorri Solomon-Matthewson caressed hearts with her soulful stories of friendship. While Larry Krause soothed onlookers with melodious tunes of small town living.The "Back to our Roots" tour kicked off in Carlyle at the Cornerstone Thearte on Tuesday, Oct. 1 where a number of residents attended the live music show. And for those who missed it, it was an evening of music that was alive, infused with emotion and laced with Saskatchewan culture. The tour is a fundraiser for the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) and is spearheaded by Lorri Solomon-Matthewson. She organized the tour as a way to not only promote Saskatchewan based singers and song writers but to also promote the importance of the STARS service.
"Carlyle was fantastic, the Lions Club was great we had good sponsorship there; people were really great to us," she said.
Matthewson explained that STARS gets good corporate sponsorship and she hope it continues but explained that raising awareness of the importance STARS is key.
"Charities get to be kind of the flavor of the year and they (STARS) need sustainable funding - they're not fully funded. It's the universe of charity I think," she said.
Matthewson said although they didn't get the numbers they'd like, she understands a part of that development is raising awareness.
"We all went into this knowing, 'let's try and see' and we already know what we're going to do different next year and how we're going to set it up, so it works a little easier," she said.
Each performer was given equal sets for the night while Trevor Gowan served as master of ceremonies directing each set, humouring the crowd between breaks.
The acoustics of the theatre was exceptional allowing the melodious voices to flow through the room effortlessly. The performance of all three Saskatchewan artists somehow uncovered the provinces nature that everyone could understand. Each song generated chuckles, sighs and ushered "awes" from the crowd that seemed to indentify the thought provoking nature of some of the tunes.
Blake Berglund said the Carlyle reception was great and the town is a kind of home base for him. He said he always feels blessed whenever he gets a chance head back home to play at any town in southeast Saskatchewan. He has traveled and performed with Matthewson for about three years and said for the amount of time they have spent on the road traveling, the service STARS provide resonates with him.
"We get up to about 100,000km a year on highways and you never know when and what could happen, you just hope that your safe as you could possibly be, being on the road that much. I know that STARS helps out with any tragic case but it seems more often than not it seems like accidents on the highway," he said.
"Nobody is invincible; you don't know what the next 13 seconds of your life is going to hold. When there's a service that isn't funded by the government, a completely private service and they need to get that money from somewhere in order to continue operation why wouldn't we get together and support the cause" The last performance was on Oct. 7 in Kindersly, SK. Matthewson has said she hopes to have nine different musicians in three provinces raise a million dollars a year for the cause.
